19 Facts About Doris Anderson

Doris Anderson is best known as the editor of the women's magazine Chatelaine, mixing traditional content with thorny social issues of the day, putting the magazine on the front lines of the feminist movement in Canada.

Doris Anderson was born in Medicine Hat, Alberta as Hilda Doris Buck to Rebecca Laycock Buck and Thomas McCubbin.

Doris Anderson was staying with her sisters in Medicine Hat when Anderson was born and briefly placed her "illegitimate" child in a home for unwanted babies in Calgary, reclaiming her several months later.

Doris Anderson's mother wanted Anderson to be demure, keep her head down and conform to "respectable" expectations, perhaps as a result of her experiences as a single mother bearing a child out of wedlock.

Doris Anderson chafed under the expectations of her parents that she marry and raise children and chose instead to forge an independent life.

Doris Anderson attended Crescent Heights High School and went on to graduate from teacher's college in 1940.

Doris Anderson used her teaching income to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Alberta in 1945.

Doris Anderson married Prince Edward Island-born lawyer and Liberal Party organizer David Doris Anderson in 1957.

Doris Anderson worked until her due date, and returned to work almost immediately.

When John Clare, the editor, stepped down, and a new male editor was appointed, Doris Anderson threatened to quit, and her publisher eventually relented and gave her the job instead.

Doris Anderson held the position of editor of Chatelaine from 1957 to 1977.

In 1963, Doris Anderson chose not to run an excerpt from a new novel in Chatelaine, feeling the material had already been well explored by the magazine.

For much of her life, Doris Anderson supported greater representation of women in Parliament.

Doris Anderson was appointed chair of the Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women in 1979.

Doris Anderson worked successfully for the inclusion of women's rights in the Canadian Constitution and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, adding a single statement to the Charter indicating that men and women are equal under law.

Doris Anderson was named a recipient of the Governor General's Awards in Commemoration of the Persons Case in 1991, and served as Chancellor of the University of Prince Edward Island from 1992 to 1996.

Doris Anderson was promoted to Companion of the Order of Canada in 2002, the last public award she received during her lifetime.

Doris Anderson has been posthumously recognized for her contributions to Canadian society.

Doris Anderson was widely recognized, and received many awards during her life:.